Falcone among honorees in U.S. Capitol ceremony

Hundreds salute slain police officers

May 16, 2012

An unknown sheriff pins a flower on a wreath honoring City of Poughkeepsie Police Detective John Falcone during the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. / Stephen J. Boitano/Gannett News Service

Written by

Brian Tumulty

Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — The day before the House planned to vote on legislation to combat domestic violence, hundreds of people gathered on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to honor some of its victims — police officers.

Among them: City of Poughkeepsie Detective John Falcone.

Falcone was fatally shot in February 2011 near the Poughkeepsie Train Station by a man who had already shot his wife dead with their 3-year-old daughter there. The man, Lee Welch, then committed suicide by shooting himself.

Tuesday’s ceremony marking National Peace Officers Memorial Day honored 362 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty during 2011 or in earlier years, regardless of the cause.

President Barack Obama didn’t mention the Violence Against Women Act in his keynote speech at Tuesday’s ceremony, but he did refer to Falcone and the February 2011 report of a “shot fired on Main Street” that the Poughkeepsie detective responded to.

Obama noted that when Falcone arrived on the scene, he was faced with a situation that required quick thinking.

“In a situation like that, every instinct pushes us toward self-preservation,” Obama said. “But when the suspect fled … Detective Falcone didn’t think twice. He took off in pursuit, and tragically, in the struggle that followed, he was shot and killed.”

Obama said the 3-year-old child “might not be alive today had it not been for the sacrifice of a hero who gave his life for another.”

Officers attending the ceremony agreed that domestic disputes are among the most dangerous cases.

“Anything can happen on a call like that,” said Antonio Gonzalez of the Rochester Police Department. “They don’t see you as a police officer. They just see red.”

Anthony DiPonzio, another Rochester police officer, said domestic disputes are “most of what we do, especially in the wintertime.”

The House is to vote today on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, a 1994 federal law that has significantly changed how law enforcement agencies and nonprofit social service agencies deal with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The version the Senate passed April 26 would expand coverage to gays and lesbians.

It would increase the number of illegal immigrants fleeing domestic abuse who can receive temporary visas each year. At least 20 percent of the bill’s funding would be set aside for law enforcement training and forensic response, such as rape kits.